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Tank:G114 Rheinmetall Skorpian
An easter egg - a photo of Marlene Dietrich, a German actress who worked in the United States during World War II, is located within the turret of the Rheinmetall Skorpion. |InTheGame_pros= *Excellent alpha damage, the highest among tier 8 premium vehicles *Good penetration; APCR can penetrate even tier 10 super-heavies frontally, a trait unique to a tier 8 with a turret *Good top speed and decent acceleration allows for rapid relocation *Has a fully traversable turret *Great accuracy with fairly decent DPM *Its special camouflage provides an innate concealment bonus |InTheGame_cons= *Mobility is hampered by terrible terrain resistances and hull traverse *Horrible gun bloom with hull/turret traverse extends aiming time considerably. Can't snap shot *Extremely thin armor is easily penetrated by even HE shells *Sub-optimal shell velocity and gun depression, -7 achievable only at the sides *Awful camouflage values, even with camo net and camo crew. Can get spotted from 400+ meters as soon as it fires. *Very low view range at only 360 meters. * Accuracy is not as good as it seems. |InTheGame_performance= The plays most like a very bloated Rhm.-Borsig Waffenträger with substantially better mobility and accuracy at the expense of inferior camouflage, gun handling, and DPM. Thankfully, the mobility, penetration, and alpha damage allow you to remain useful even in tier 9 and 10 battles. As with every low armor tank, you should pay special attention to not getting hit, as most hits will result in damage. Under the right circumstances you can even play the like a medium tank, but it is a fine line between success and failure. Support your team by striking at distracted enemies and vehicles that are still reloading. In some rare instances you can also trade shots, especially versus lower tier mediums with 75mm guns. Due to the horrible dispersion values, snapshots won't connect most of the time. It is really important to let the gun aim, especially since you will be stuck reloading for over 10 seconds. The 246mm of penetration on the AP rounds allows you to damage most tanks you will encounter reliably, which is especially important for a premium tank, since one typically uses them to earn credits. While it does have great credit earning potential, the same cannot be said for crew training - the crew layout of the Skorpion only matches that of the Tier 4 Marder 38T, and the Commander doubles as the Loader. It is important to remember that unlike the Rhm.-Borsig Waffenträger, the has poor camouflage ratings and a very large silhouette (comparable to the Panther II). Situations in which the Rhm.-Borsig Waffenträger could have remained hidden or simply slunk into the nearest ditch to avoid being hit are often certain death for the much larger . This can be partially mitigated with the use of a camouflage net, but you are still likely be spotted after your first shot unless there is substantial foliage cover between you and your target. At the beginning of the battle you can decide to rush a key location or pick a TD spot. Even if you are doing the latter, watch for gaps on the minimap. Once a gap presents itself, exploit it and use your mobility to flank the enemy and put the pressure on. Due to the mobility, this tank is also nicely suited for cleanup late during a match, just make sure you don't overextend yourself and end up in a spot with no way out. |InTheGame_research= |InTheGame_equipment= Large-Caliber Tank Gun Rammer, GLD, Camouflage Net, Binocular Telescope |InTheGame_Equipment_Builds= |External_Reviews= |History= Background In early 1942 Wa.Prüf 4, the German organization in charge of field artillery, put forward a design requirement for a vehicle to move heavy artillery. The main stipulation was that it should use parts from the new Panther medium tank. A similar competition was already underway for a vehicle to move lighter field artillery, such as 10.5 cm guns, using the Geschützwagen III/IV chassis. This had inspired Wa.Prüf 4 to do the same for a vehicle to move heavier 12.8 cm and 15 cm artillery pieces, as the Geschützwagen III/IV was too small to handle them. The guns in question were the 12.8 cm K 43 and 15 cm sFH 43. The sFH 43 (schwerer Feld Haubitze, heavy field howitzer) was a projected improvement on the 15 cm sFH 18, the new gun was to use bagged propellant and had a screw-type breech. The 12.8 cm Kanone 43 is unknown in most literature but is presumably a predecessor to the 12.8 cm K 44 L/55. Neither of these cannons were ever built. In order to keep weight down, the designs were to be open-topped. Prototypes were to be built using Panther parts, but it was projected that any serial production vehicles would be made using the Panther II chassis. This idea was discarded when the Panther II was cancelled in June of 1943. Both Krupp and Rheinmetall-Borsig took part in this design competition. All designs were able to be transported by rail with a few adjustments, and all could carry at least 30 rounds, however, Rheinmetall’s design had trouble with this. Design and Fate Like Krupp, Rheinmetall-Borsig also presented their first designs on the 1st of July, 1942. They were the 12.8 cm K 43 (Sfl.) Rheinmetall-Borsig (indexed Gerät 5-1213), and 15 cm sFH 43 (Sfl.) Rheinmetall-Borsig (indexed Gerät 5-1530). The vehicles were identical except for armament. Both had a 360-degree rotating turret and a hydraulic gun dismounting mechanism designed by Daimler-Benz, similar to that used on the Heuschrecke 10. On January 7th, 1943, Rheinmetall produced three more designs. In reality, these were the same vehicle, but with different armaments. The vehicles had centrally mounted, 360-degree rotating, dismountable turrets. The chassis was that of a Panther, extended to a wheelbase of 4,220mm. They were designated 15 cm sFH 43, 12.8 cm K 43 and 12.8 cm P 43. On or around the 24th of February, 1943, Rheinmetall’s entry for the Selbstfahrlafette für 12.8 cm K 43 und 15 cm sFH 43 Project was assigned the cover name “Skorpion”. This name probably covered the January 7th design, but since it is not known when Rheinmetall abandoned it, it cannot be said for certain. Unwilling to stop perfecting the design, Rheinmetall continued to design more versions. On the 2nd of April 1943, they produced drawing H-SKA 81959 for the 12.8 cm Skorpion mit Panther Bauteilen; and on April 16th drawing H-SKA 82566 for 15 cm sFH 18 mit Panther Bauteilen. These designs had a Panther-based chassis with a wheelbase of 4,025mm. Around the 20th of October 1943, Wa.Prüf 4 canceled the Grille, Heuschrecke, and Skorpion projects. |HistAcc= * The official designation for the Skorpion was 12.8 cm Skorpion K/43 mit Panther Bauteilen. The K/43 here represents the planned gun. Unlike usual German gun terminology for tanks (e.g. KwK meaning tank gun, PaK meaning anti-tank gun), the K here stands for "Kanone", simply meaning "gun", which was the terminology used for artillery guns. Therefore, the Skorpion was going to be an SPG, and not a tank destroyer. |HistoricalGallery= File:Rheinmetall_Skorpion_proposal_image.jpg File:Rheinmetall_Panther-based_artillery_pieces.jpg List of Rheinmetall Panther-based artillery pieces. From top to bottom 12,8cm K43 Sfl from January 1943, 12,8cm Skorpion from April 1943, 15cm sFH 43 mit Panther Bauabteilen from April 1943 and sFH 18 mit Panther Bauabteilen from January 1944 |Ref_references= |Ref_sources= * http://www.tanks-encyclopedia.com/ww2/nazi_germany/waffentrager-panthers |Ref_links= * http://ftr.wot-news.com/2013/07/11/special-panthers-part-ii-waffentrager-panther/ }}